Highlands Bluegrass Festival at Harmony Hall on the Great Lawn - September 19!!
Our celebration of Music on the Great Lawn series this summer will conclude with the celebration of an original American art form - Bluegrass! On September 19, the Friends of Harmony Hall, Town of Ramapo and the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association will welcom music lovers from throughout the region to the Great Lawn of Harmony Hall for the Highlands Bluegrass Festival & Craft Fair at Harmony Hall from 1-7 PM. The featured festival band is Carol Beaugard & the Blue Express, which is one of the Hudson Valley's premiere Bluegrass bands. The Blue Express will be joined by Proud Flesh, a band specializing in progressive Bluegrass music, and the Ramapo Torne Ramblers, specializing in the Appalachian Mountain roots of this American musical art form. The festival is made possible, in part, with funds from the Community Arts Grants program of the Arts Council of Rockland, the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, and a generous grant from Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee. The event also will feature a cook-off event to raise funds for the restoration of Harmony Hall's South Salon, childrens' games, refreshments, and an opportunity to start your Christmas shopping early by visiting the many vendors who will offer handmade crafts and other services as part of this free family 'fun day'. Watch our web site for more information as the event grows nearer.
Play a Role in Preserving Our Past by Helping to Refinish Harmony Hall's Magnificent 1848 Floors!
Nearly 160 years after Jacob Sloat completed construction of the mansion that he designed and named Harmony Hall, the Friends of Harmony Hall ~ Jacob Sloat House have embarked upon a campaign to raise the funds required to restore the ground floor rooms to their former glory. Those rooms include a grand entrance hallway and staircase, a magnificent double parlor, a formal dining room, a former library, a summer kitchen and the original estate office.
After spending three long years working to uncover hidden fireplaces, windows and staircases that were miraculously entombed by former owners behind plasterboard walls during the century that the house served as an inn, a restaurant and an adult care facility, the Friends worked with the Town of Ramapo to rip up decades of modern flooring to uncover the original, wide oak floorboards that once dominated the mansion’s interiors. The somewhat fragile condition of these floorboards in the high-traffic areas of the central hallway, double parlor and dining room prompted the Friends to designate the restoration of the floors in those rooms as the group’s initial interior restoration target. Funds that are raised will be used to strip off remaining floor adhesives and to sand down the floorboards in order to prepare them to receive a historically-appropriate finish.
Friends of Harmony Hall ~ Jacob Sloat House are looking for individuals, businesses, foundations and corporations that share our vision for the preservation and restoration of this unique historical resource. The current fundraising campaign invites you in on the “ground floor” by asking you to be a vital part of our floor restoration campaign. Contributors are welcome to sponsor a floorboard for as little as $25 or to become a full, half or quarter sponsor of an individual room for as little as a $250 contribution. Contributors to our $25 “Sponsor a Floorboard” campaign will receive invitations to attend our Members Only Lecture Series that introduces audiences to a wide range of topics and experts about the unique history and resources of the Ramapo Pass and Highlands. Contributors who elect to become a part of our “Adopt a Room” campaign will receive two tickets to our Annual Patrons Gala in addition to invitations to all Members Only events. They will also receive a complimentary individual or family membership to Friends of Harmony Hall ~ Jacob Sloat House, bringing them closer to the people and plans that will define the restoration effort.
For more information about how you can become part of this important restoration initiative, please contact Suzanne Daycock at 845.504.5097 or by E-mail at sdaycock@friendsofharmonyhall.org. All contributions are 100% tax-deductible.
Renown conservator gifts Harmony Hall with the restoration of an original parlor chandelier discovered in the mansion's basement.
Friends received an early Christmas gift at our Victorian Holiday celebration last December in the person of internationally-esteemed conservator Kenneth Linsner (standing) of Art Services Group. ASG has provided expertise in the restoration of many renowned private and public collections world-wide. Mr. Linsner, who has resided in Sloatsburg for 32 years and is a member of the Rockland Committee for Art in Public Places, is donating his expertise to restore a Colonial Revival chandelier that once graced the double parlor - a restoration gift valued at thousands of dollars. Mr. Linsner was making his first visit to Harmony Hall when he discovered the fixture among a group of Sloat artifacts that had been displayed to encourage guests to savor the significant history of Harmony Hall.
Spring brought the first signs of exterior restoration this year!!
With work expected to begin on the mansion roof and front verandah in 2010, a Ramapo town contractor removed a number of trees near the verandah footings this week, paving the way for restoration work to begin later this year. Harmony Hall curator, Geoff Welch, captured this work in photographs that will be archived to historically document the progress of this important restoration project..
The proposed $600,000 restoration project will be partially funded be a matching grant awarded to the Town of Ramapo by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The project will include replacement of the aging roof over the main section of the mansion, reconstruction of a cupola that was destroyed by fire several decades ago, and restoration of the front verandah and main mansion entry doors to their original, 1848 designs.
For more information on current restoration plans, or to find out how you can contribute to the restoration work underway, please contact events@friendsofharmonyhall.org. We also urge you to visit our web site frequently for updated information on restoration activities.
Our celebration of Music on the Great Lawn series this summer will conclude with the celebration of an original American art form - Bluegrass! On September 19, the Friends of Harmony Hall, Town of Ramapo and the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association will welcom music lovers from throughout the region to the Great Lawn of Harmony Hall for the Highlands Bluegrass Festival & Craft Fair at Harmony Hall from 1-7 PM. The featured festival band is Carol Beaugard & the Blue Express, which is one of the Hudson Valley's premiere Bluegrass bands. The Blue Express will be joined by Proud Flesh, a band specializing in progressive Bluegrass music, and the Ramapo Torne Ramblers, specializing in the Appalachian Mountain roots of this American musical art form. The festival is made possible, in part, with funds from the Community Arts Grants program of the Arts Council of Rockland, the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts, and a generous grant from Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee. The event also will feature a cook-off event to raise funds for the restoration of Harmony Hall's South Salon, childrens' games, refreshments, and an opportunity to start your Christmas shopping early by visiting the many vendors who will offer handmade crafts and other services as part of this free family 'fun day'. Watch our web site for more information as the event grows nearer. 
After spending three long years working to uncover hidden fireplaces, windows and staircases that were miraculously entombed by former owners behind plasterboard walls during the century that the house served as an inn, a restaurant and an adult care facility, the Friends worked with the Town of Ramapo to rip up decades of modern flooring to uncover the original, wide oak floorboards that once dominated the mansion’s interiors. The somewhat fragile condition of these floorboards in the high-traffic areas of the central hallway, double parlor and dining room prompted the Friends to designate the restoration of the floors in those rooms as the group’s initial interior restoration target. Funds that are raised will be used to strip off remaining floor adhesives and to sand down the floorboards in order to prepare them to receive a historically-appropriate finish.
Friends received an early Christmas gift at our Victorian Holiday celebration last December in the person of internationally-esteemed conservator Kenneth Linsner (standing) of Art Services Group. ASG has provided expertise in the restoration of many renowned private and public collections world-wide. Mr. Linsner, who has resided in Sloatsburg for 32 years and is a member of the Rockland Committee for Art in Public Places, is donating his expertise to restore a Colonial Revival chandelier that once graced the double parlor - a restoration gift valued at thousands of dollars. Mr. Linsner was making his first visit to Harmony Hall when he discovered the fixture among a group of Sloat artifacts that had been displayed to encourage guests to savor the significant history of Harmony Hall. 
With work expected to begin on the mansion roof and front verandah in 2010, a Ramapo town contractor removed a number of trees near the verandah footings this week, paving the way for restoration work to begin later this year. Harmony Hall curator, Geoff Welch, captured this work in photographs that will be archived to historically document the progress of this important restoration project.. 
The proposed $600,000 restoration project will be partially funded be a matching grant awarded to the Town of Ramapo by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. The project will include replacement of the aging roof over the main section of the mansion, reconstruction of a cupola that was destroyed by fire several decades ago, and restoration of the front verandah and main mansion entry doors to their original, 1848 designs.